As the school year ended (for us lucky auxiliares, not the children) we set our sights on what’s next. A few different trips stood between me and my final return home to the USA and as pumped as I was for all these trips I knew what was coming at the end.

Ibiza June 2nd-4th 

Words can’t describe how fun this trip was, it was like a girls weekend in Las Vegas only it was one of the biggest party islands off the coast of Spain. We made friends with an aux that lived in Ibiza so he was able to show us most of the ropes of the island. We had been one time before, but it surely didn’t feel like enough. The island reminds me a lot of Mallorca except for all the billboards listing DJs who are playing all summer long. Some of the biggest names went there and it was pretty fun to see people from all over the world. Our first night we went out to Club Swag which was a hip hop/r&b type club and somehow made our way into the VIP booth. It sure is nice being a girl at a club sometimes. After recovering from the first night we all had a family breakfast and prepared for a pool party at Ocean Beach Club. It was quite an experience since I had been to similar things in Las Vegas. After meeting a group of crazy British boys on a stag the night took off. It was definitely a memorable trip

Paris June 5th- June 8th 

My dad flew from Oregon to come help me get situated back home. I do feel truly lucky that both my parents were able to visit me in Europe. Unfortunately from the moment I arrived in Paris I got stuck with a pretty intense fever so all we saw the first day were the ceilings of the hotel room. Luckily by day 2 I was feeling more up and we decided to visit Disneyland. Now I’ve been to 3 Disneyland’s all over the world and I’m preparing for my next trip to the ones in Asia. I was sluggish and tired but having visited Paris before I didn’t feel too bummed out that I wasn’t able to see as much as possible. It was still a great trip, and compared to the one before I actually tried real french food! (and not just an abundance of pizza)

Munich June 8th- 10th 

Considering it wasn’t my first time in Germany I was fairly surprised about the differences between the cities. I had expected Munich to look quite a bit different than what I saw but the beauty still astounded me. Our first day we got to go visit the Glockenspiel which is a famous landmark for the clock that goes off at 11, 12 and 5 pm. It shows little characters dancing around to all the different bells.

The following day we headed to the infamous hofbräuhaus where locals and tourists drink copious amounts of beer and simply relax and enjoy one another’s company. I filled myself up on a beer that I couldn’t even hold in one hand and a pretzel in the other. After our grand time there the next stop (after digesting of course) was to head over to the Augustiner-Keller Biergarten. Little did we know it’s a fully outside serving restaurant and about 10 minutes into sitting down a torrential downpour was passing through. Thankfully we decided to stick it out and had one of the best meals Ive had here in Europe! If you find yourself in Munich I would most certainly stop by!

Rome June 10th- June 14th 

Somewhere I had been looking forward to ever since I left Rome in 2010. I always get excited to use my Italian but this trip was more of a nostalgic trip for me from my previous time spent there. We had 4 days to spend in Rome which made seeing everything rather easy. The first day we simply strolled around visiting the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna, sampling gelato and eating a delicious meal. Rome was rather hot so it was very important to take as many breaks as possible! I was also able to return to the last dinner place that I ate with my best friend Adam prior to leaving Italy after our exchange, it was truly a memorable experience.

The next day we went to visit one of my dad’s life long goals, Pompeii. It was just as stunning as I had pictured it to see such an old civilization still very intact. Due to the heat and just pure tiredness of traveling we had a wonderful Italian meal of Mcdonald’s and simply allowed ourselves to relax for the night.

After recharging and resting we were headed to the Vatican! The last time I went there I was 16 years old, and I think we were more focused on messing around with the Swiss guards then we were actually looking at the museums. It was pretty cool to see it again 8 years later and actually have appreciation for the museums! Later on we went and had probably the best dinner of my life! I got lobster pasta and as many appetizers as one could stomach. Knowing that the rest of our trip would be quite packed it was time for more rest after dinner because the next day, we were heading back to Palma!\

We returned to Palma on June 14th, but I’m saving all of my final thoughts on leaving for the next blog. 😉